Podcasts
Podcasting takes the idea of Internet radio and turns it into something smaller, easier, and more flexible. A podcast is usually an MP3 file that is distributed from a website (although there are new options for this all of the time, including iTunes, file sharing, podcast websites, and others.) Podcasts are usually targeted at one particular interest area. They are often the length of an average radio show, between one half-hour to two hours.
One of the benefits of podcasting is that listeners can break away from "Appointment Listening." Appointment listening means watching a show on TV at the time when it's being broadcast. This is becoming rarer as people have other options such as TiVO or on DVD. Podcasting allows radio to break out of the Appointment Listening mentality and to give people control of when they hear shows. Many popular radio shows are now putting out podcasts of their own because they realize that it would get their material heard by more people.
Podcasts have an enormous amount of variety. Some are nothing more than audio diaries and others are more traditional music shows. There are many that are talk shows where discussions and interviews occur about very obscure topics that wouldn't otherwise be available on the radio. Music is often a part of podcasts, usually in one of three ways:
- Podcasts that are regularly released and have a large audience often have a theme song.
- Many podcasts are about music and are similar to music radio shows. They usually feature a particular style of music.
- The talk podcasts will sometimes play a song or two to break up the talking, especially if the song is about the topic of discussion.
There are a lot of opportunities for indies in podcasts. There are no barriers to entry into them and it is a medium where people can hear your music. Some are extremely popular and have an audience of thousands, or tens of thousands, of people. Even better, if your song makes it onto a podcast, that podcast will always be available as an older episode. Unlike being played on the radio, where people have a chance to hear your song once, usually all podcasts for a particular show are available as archived episodes forever. Because listeners will often download it to their MP3 player, people will sometimes listen to it multiple times. On top of this, sometimes links to the band website or to the song are placed in a podcast's show notes.
Below are some ideas for getting your music played on podcasts:
- Submit your music to a podcast-safe collective so that you can indicate to podcasters that they may use your music.
- Talk to a podcast that needs a theme song and offer to write one (or offer a song that you have already written or recorded.)
- If you release free music on your website, write a note on your website telling podcasters that they may use any of your songs royalty-free. (We suggest releasing your songs using a creative commons license, which spells out their rights clearly.)
- Do your own podcast!
We will elaborate on some of these ideas below:
Podcast-Safe Collectives
There are some people who have acted as a bridge between podcasters and indie musicians, providing a website that has a library of songs for podcasters. Musicians can post their music on these sites and podcasters can use that music in their podcasts without having to pay royalties.
The best part is that podcasters must provide an account of each song that they used. While you do not get money for a song that is used, you will know where it's being played, which is something that most radio stations never do. This is a win-win situation for podcasters and musicians.
We haven't taken advantage of any of these collectives yet as we are currently evaluating the agreements to make sure that they are benign. We will report on our experience with them if we take part. Remember, do not sign up for any services that take the rights to your music!
Podcast Theme Songs
Most every regularly released podcast needs a theme song. Even talk-only podcasts needs one to start and end the show. You can sometimes offer to write a theme song, or offer one that you have already recorded for a podcast. If they like it, they might just mention your band name each show, to tell the audience who did the song. This is the same thing that happens for a lot of shows on National Public Radio.
Beatnik Turtle has had very good experience with this and we can recommend this as an excellent way to get your name out. A year ago as of this writing, we ran across a podcast for a very popular board game website (over 400,000 unique visitors a month.) We had just finished our Cheapass Album, which was an album distributed and promoted by the boardgame company Cheapass Games. We noticed that a boardgame podcast didn't have a theme song. We sent them an email asking them if they'd like us to write one for them. They accepted enthusiastically.
We wrote a theme song for them and even recorded fake "PSA" announcements for them to use during their show. They use our material every show and mention our band name every episode. The website, as we mentioned, is very popular, and we believe that the podcast has thousands of listeners. It has been a very good way for us to get our name out there.
As for finding podcasts, they can be most easily be found on iTunes, or the websites podcast.net and podcastalley.com.